"Hold on right there", a scream stopped Chris in his tracks.
Chris decided not to make a move, knowing that not even his lightning flow could save him from these three men.
He raised his hand trying to comply to their demands.
"Who are you and what are you doing here", one of the men shouted holding his dragonstorm machine gun.
"I was about to ask you guys the same thing", Chris spoke, still with his hands up.
The men glazed at each other.
They too never expected to see another soul residing around this part of the hill.
Still, they were still cautious. All still held their weapons as they walked closer to him.
"Look guys.... I don't want any trouble", Chris spoke seeing the worry spread all over their faces.
He continued.
"I'm just here to get something real quick and I'll be on my way".
The men stopped.
They began to believe that the man in front of them didn't mean any harm.
They guessed that any loner in this part of Beckoning Hills would need all the help they could get.
"Well, I'm Derek.
That's Fidget and that's Boris", the man with the laser piston spoke pointing from left to right.
Derek dressed wearing a brown thatched top and similar brown trousers.
His face looked messed up, possible due to the ground where he currently stayed.
He was tall... at least taller than the other two.
His face looked fierce almost entailing leadership.
His grey and black hair went together on his scalp and his strangely coloured eyes were easy to notice.
Then came Fidget and Boris.
Both looked similar, almost like twins.
They shared the same height and body structure.
Both wearing the same red and brown top and bottom.
The major difference that Chris could recognise was the difference in their voice and facial features.
Apart from those, almost everything else seemed oddly similar.
"Well, why are you here", Derek boldly asked extending his hand for a shake.
"Honestly.
I am not sure.
To obtain some sort of mythic thing that is only found on this hill", Chris answered dodging the truth.
Derek lowered his eyelids.
Almost noticing that the answer seemed off.
Still, he didn't reply.
Just a simple calling of his boys and they were on their way.
"How did you guys manage to get past the burning field", curiosity couldn't prevent Chris from asking the question.
The group grew silent.
No answers.
As if they were hiding something.
Then Boris spoke.
"We got some help from a friend".
"What ever do you mean", Chris retorted back demanding an answer.
The group grew silent once more, this time not even Boris could say a word.
Chris grew suspicious.
'Who could be the friend that they spoke of?!', he thought still facing ahead.
No one he knew had ever gone to the Beckoning Hills and lived, well, except his wife.
He nodded and looked down.
Derek couldn't help but say something.
"Is anything wrong?!".
At this point no one trusted each other.
They just strolled along hoping that they would have each others backs.
Chris stopped without any answers.
He looked downwards.
He could sense that something wasn't right.
"Ouchh", Fidget.... the man with the bagpack shouted scratching his foot.
The men looked confused.
Chris himself could feel what felt like currents flowing past his feet.
Chris shouted effortlessly. "Run".
Without turning back, the four men ran for their lives.
Shock waves followed next.
It stunned those who ran along the plains.
Still, the men carried on.
Not many had survived this far into the hills.
These four were completely exempted.
Another shock wave, this time it threw Fidget off balance and he came crashing to the ground.
In an instant, he got up and continued his sprint.
Bites began to be felt by everyone.
Creatures that crawled past their shoes or sandals and seemed to bite them when underneath.
The pain was uncomfortable, almost underwhelming, but the men still battled through.
"When will this torture ever end".
Finally, the pains that sprung under their feet, the stuns and the bites had seemed to seize.
The men panted and breath a large sigh of relief.
They had escaped another hurdle.
Chris looked back at where they had run through.
The plains that circled around the entire hill.
It wasn't just any ordinary hurdle. They were plants, shrubs.... herbs.
Shockwave celestial greens. Herb-like plants that contained a celestial appearance of shocks and stuns proven a few years back.
"So you're telling me, that....that lightning place were just plants with celestial appearance", Derek screamed after he had heard the news.
"Yes, plants that have been proven to be able to obtain celestial appearances but the same can't be said for animals", Chris spoke facts to all the listening ears.
None of the members knew what this celestial appearance were but it was surely starting to piss them off.
The thought that these celestial appearances would have killed them seriously didn't settle properly in their minds.
They just nodded whenever Chris spoke trying to hide their rage.
The men sat on rocks nursing the wounds that had occurred when they ran past the Shockwave celestial greens.
Large purple coloured boils that surrounded their feet and sole.
It felt irritating whenever they touched it making the matter ever worse.
Fidget's problem was the worst.
As he fell onto the greens, the creatures gained the advantage to stun and strike his abdominal regions as well as his chestal areas.
He screamed in pain constantly.
His appearance at that moment was unbearable to look at.
The power that Chris hunted to get hadn't played such a brilliant first impression in the minds of these men.
Chris wasn't bothered though.
He was even unaware that these men had no idea what he was speaking about.
The noon gave way to dusk and the men still sat on rocks nursing their wounds.
The symptoms were even worse than the appearance.
The purple coloured boils turned to a shade of red.
The parts affected began to misunderstand their functions.
The feet stopped moving meaning that each man had temporary paralysis.
While for Fidget....his entire body seemed to collapse on him, almost to the state of death.
He could hardly stand, talk or even respirate.
The men just sat under the smooth shade of a tree waiting for these effects to clear or atleast become bearable enough for them to walk it off.
Until then, they still had to remain on high alert.
"Five days left", the counting continued in the head of Chris as he rested his head to sleep.